news-record.com

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A North Carolina teenager is among the 22 people behind honored today with Carnegie medals for heroism.

Elijah Jarred Wittum, 16, of Cleveland saved a 15-year-old boy from drowning in the rain-swollen South Yadkin river in Cooleemee on May 30, 2009.

The Carnegie Hero Fund gave this account of the rescue:

Marlon Porfirio was swept downstream. Wittum swam after him in deep, rushing water about 30 feet from the short. At one point, Wittum had to dive underwater to pull Porfirio to the surface.

Holding Porfirio, Wittum swam toward the riverbank as the current carried them downstream. Wittum managed to grab onto a tree that extended from the bank into the water.

Men who were fishing nearby pulled Porfirio and then Wittum into the tree. Wittum suffered some scratches to his arm. Porfirio was hospitalized for unspecified injuries.

Pittsburgh steel baron Andrew Carnegie started the fund in 1904 after hearing rescue stories from a mine disaster that killed 181 people. More than $32 million has been awarded to 9,349 people. Medalists, or their heirs, receive $6,000.